And yet it's martial arts like ninjitsu which are the ones likely to be trained purely for "self defence".

Whereas in the sport MAs (i.e. the ones that actually work), self defence is often not even a tertiary concern.

This is true. I am certainly not suggesting ninjutsu be taken as a serious self defense style (or attack style) unless it teaches you to hide under tables more effectively during barfights and obviously in the extremely unlikely event that you did need to fight then you would be 1000 times better off doing MMA than ninjutsu. I just thought it sounded fun.

Although I recognise Judo gives me some advantage if I needed to defend myself it is not my primary motive for training Judo. I think it was at first but over time during my training my opinion changed. Again the chances of the average citizen encountering an unavoidable violent situation facing unarmed attackers where violence was the only option is virtually nil. Therefore it is hard to justify the enormous amount of time training, effort and expense on self defense grounds alone. I have reaped enormous benefits from training Judo - the ability to defend myself (possibly) against one or two unarmed attackers is only one of them .

I live close to Naples, you all probably know about this city. Usually the muggers use knives and/or guns so, AS FOR MUGGERS, i tend to agree with OP.

Nevertheless, MAs (yes, I know what many/all of you think about Aikido but please, indulge me for once), besides their utility in bar fights, can be useful in situations where a firm demonstration of skill can win the day. There's a whole segment of useless lumps of flesh which like to go around unarmed pestering people, they usually act tough but can be "persuaded" to leave. Like pidgeons!

Plus, in some areas the confident demeanor given by MAs can make yourself not desirable as prey...

His heart was visible, and the dismal sack that maketh excrement of what is eaten.

Join Date

Mar 2006

Posts

6,855

Posted On:6/23/2011 10:53am

--

Martial arts are important for self defense. Here's why. You teach a kid how to fight. When he's in elementary school, some bully screws with him and gets smashed for everyone to see.

From then on, nobody messes with the kid for fear they too will be publicly humiliated and physically injured. As the kid grows up, he'll occasionally be challenged by some n00b who forgot to ask somebody. He too will get stomped.

The kid earns a reputation and gets treated with respect by his peers. As a result he gets to grow up with a ton of self confidence and self respect and he enjoys a largely peaceful existence.

As he matures into adulthood, he finds fewer reasons to engage in physical altercations due to his badass homies, Smith, Wesson & Colt.

If you know how to fight, you can choose to pick the peaceful option. If you don't know how to fight, circumstances have made that choice for you. Therefore, you have to know how to fight if you want to be a pacifist.

If you know how to fight, you can choose to pick the peaceful option. If you don't know how to fight, circumstances have made that choice for you. Therefore, you have to know how to fight if you want to be a pacifist.

^^^^^^^Yep. The calmness created by the knowledge that I have some fighting ability enhances my verbal Judo and allows me to defuse aggressive situations at the bar.

@Evilenzo: Not gonna dis your Aiki for it's effectiveness in bar situations. I used my Aikijutsu principals at a club a couple weeks ago to stop one dude from caving another guy's face in.

If you want to be a ninjer, I would suggest talking to Whitey Bulger, cause he damn sure is one.

After assassinating his foes, he was on the FBI's most wanted list FOREVER. The guy was on America's Most Wanted so many times I thought I was watching reruns.

Well, at the ripe old age of 81, the FBI finally managed to catch him. Turns out he spent the last 16 years with his girlfriend, hiding out in the deep, dark, secluded jungles of..........wait for it.............Santa Monica.

Ok I'll admit to some ninjering in my time. My teacher use to be part of the Buj (went to Japan to test under Hatsumi and all that stuff). Boy did he ever love the larping. His teacher took him and the other students on camping trips in full ninja gear where they played capture the flad and evansion type games and would do all sort of other fun stuff like rafting, scuba diving and rock climbing a la ninja training. Use to play a game were the students would have to move thru a section of forest with their teacher hiding and waiting for them with a blow gun. Many is the times they would make a mistep and get a dart in the keester. I never did any ninjer larping outside of wearing the black pjs and tabi while in class but I've gotta admit that it sounds like fun. Although I think I'd want to add paintball guns to the equation or maybe airsoft firearms instead.

As to the utility of martial arts training in general I admit your chances are much lower of survival when weapons are involved in an assault (especially guns) but I have got to believe that proper training has to improve the odds of survival none the less. Lives have been saved by knowing what to do in a bad situation and many people learn those skills thru defensive training whatever the vehicle of the training happens to be.